It was a gorgeous September 24th evening at the Pit in Gladbrook. It was a perfect night for football as the Cougars from AGWSR traveled south for a battle with our G-R Rebels. Our guys had put together a pretty nice ball game against BCLUW last week so the coaching staff was anxious and ready to see if that effort and execution would continue into this week’s contest. It didn’t take long for us to strike. After a muffed snap on a 4th down punt, Ty Eiffler took off and scrambled for a 7 yard gain and a first down to regain control of the ball on our initial drive. 2 plays later Cam Kickbush was flushed from the pocket and was forced to run and he did a fine job of that. He juked and jived his way 42 yards to pay dirt and we took a 6-0 lead early. We would never look back as we really shaped our offense up and the defense tightened down. AGWSR was within 18-6 at the half but that would be it for them. We stepped on the gas and exploded in the second half for a convincing 44-14 victory which moves us to 4-2 on the year. We were sharp on offense and very stingy on defense which led to a great finish for us. Another great effort for these guys and the dividends for their hard work are paying off. Nice work by all on this Monday night. Eric Stoakes had another huge night ending with 12 carries and 282 yards and 5 TD’s. He scored from 26, 6, 75, 54, and 62 yards out and I am sure he would tell you it was all about his blockers. All of them from the offensive linemen to the fullback to the receivers deserve some credit for Eric’s numbers. Everyone working together made this look like a well oiled machine. Cam added 61yards, Cameron Murphy 16, and Kainen Hendricks 6 to account for our total rushing yards of 370. Cam also completed 5 of 10 throws for 83 yards and Brady Kuehl was 1 of 2 for 8 yards to bring out offensive total yards to a mind boggling 461 yards. We also ended the night with no turnovers compared to 3 for the Cougars. Bennett Petersen recovered a fumble and Logan Flamme had 2 picks for our defense. Cameron led us with 7 tackles followed by Luke Holman with 6. Brady and Josh Cooley 5, Cam, Bryce Ehlers, and Hunter Wegner 4, Cameron Clark and Riley Gilbert 3, Eric, Ty, Logan, Bennett, and Bryce Clark 2, and Austin Lott and Jeff Tscherter added a stop each to finish off our defensive stats. Josh, Logan, Austin, and Bennett also were our pass receivers with catches. This was arguably one of the best games that these guys have played. I know for sure it was one of the best second halves I have seen. Great effort equals great success. Keep up the good work guys. Fresh-Soph Rebel Football The leaves are starting to change color and the air is starting to get a little nip to it at night. You can sure tell it is football season in Iowa. What a great atmosphere for a football game! The harvest is going forward and our days are getting shorter and it seems as time just flies by. Truly it has flown by. We are week 6 of the football season all ready. We played host to the Falcons from Aplington-Parkersburg on Thursday September 27th for a showdown with our Fresh-Soph squad. A-P is a perennial power and we were expecting their best shot. Coach Pollack and his staff do a great job of having their kids prepared and they always play hard. We expected a battle for thirty six minutes and that was exactly what we got. A-P took the opening kickoff and proceeded to march down the field in the traditional A-P way, 4-5 yards and a cloud of dust. They took an early 8-0 lead. We responded with a score of our own on an 8 yard run by Jake Schuman. The PAT pass from Jake to Josh Cooley was good and the score knotted at 8. A-P cashed in two more times before half along with our own touchdown pass from Jake to Josh for 22 yards to make the count 24-14 at the break. We held A-P the third quarter and added an Eric Stoakes 65 yard TD run to pull within 24-20 with one quarter to go. A-P countered our score and added another following a Rebel turnover to go up 40-20. We added a late score as Jake pushed the pile across the goal line from 1 yard out score and Eric added the PAT run to bring us to the final of 40-28 A-P. This drops us to 0-2 on the year with two more games to go. The kids played hard and executed very well. Their play was tons better than it was in our opener against DNH. The improvement is always what we are looking for and the coaching staff was somewhat satisfied although it still was a loss. We showed a lot of heart and fire all night long. Effort was also very good and when we have that, good things happen. Good work guys and keep striving to be your best every night out. Jake Schuman had a nice night at quarterback going 10 of 17 for 210 yards and a touchdown. He would tell you as he told the linemen that they did a very good job blocking all night. Eric had 93 yards on the ground and 1 score, Cameron Murphy added 36 and Kainen Hendricks was also key with his blocking at fullback. Josh caught a career high 8 balls for 168 yards and a score, Jake Mohlis added 6 yards receiving along with 1 reception by Bennett Petersen for 36 yards to finish off our offensive totals. Riley Gilbert also had a career night recording 9 tackles. He was followed by Eric with 7, Bryce Ehlers 6, Brady Kuehl and Ty Eiffler with 5, Jeff Tscherter and Logan Phillips 4, Bryce Clark and Cameron 3, Josh, Bennett, Austin Lott, and Shye Johnston 2, Carter Murphy, Kainen, Brock Bystricky, and Logan Flamme added 1 stop each for our defensive numbers. Our next action will be a JV game with Grundy Center on Monday October 8th at 6 pm in Grundy Center. The Fresh-Soph will then play their final game on the year on Thursday October 11th at Denver also beginning at 6 pm. Time is running out on the 2012 G-R Rebel football season. Make sure and come out and check on the future of Rebel football.